


Third Time's The Charm

by khashoggisship



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Completely canon divergent just like everything I write, Gen, Minor Character Death, Not Canon Compliant, OC - Kodali/Chase Dupont, OC - Miri Maleigh, OC - Rune/Rose Maleigh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23460994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khashoggisship/pseuds/khashoggisship
Summary: Two times Rune cuts her hair, and once Rose cuts it instead.
Relationships: Female Guardian/Uldren Sov, Uldren Sov/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Third Time's The Charm

The first time Rune cuts her hair, it is in defiance.  
Defiance of a mother who refuses to let her child leave the Distributary in search of a better life on the outside, because what is better than immortality and cleverness and the mix of light and dark that makes them truly Awoken? Nothing, says Tuva Maleigh, and because of that neither Rune nor Miri will be allowed to leave. They will stay in the Distributary for as long as they live. Forever, if forever is the lifespan available to them.  
Kisha Dupont has a different opinion. She wishes for her kin to reach greatness, which they will not do in the Distributary, and so she has given her son Kodali free reign to leave.  
Kodali, in turn, has promised that he will smuggle Rune, Miri and all of their possessions onto his Hull, and out of the Distributary to wherever they're planning on going. He does not care what Aunt Tuva has to say, he will bring his cousins to the place they will build an empire upon, no matter the cost.  
So on that fateful day, instead of standing with Tuva and Kisha to wave goodbye to the Hulls that are lined up and ready to leave, Rune and Miri hide in a box on Kodali's Hull that is simply labelled fragile, and it isn't until Mara's emergency launch order comes through that they tumble out, a pile of sweating limbs and panting lungs screaming for their cousin, screaming to know what's happening, what's wrong, why have the ships launched before their time, and then everything is dark.

The second time Rune cuts her hair, it is in fear.  
A Paladin grabs her by the purple curls she has been so proud of since she left the Distributary, dragging her back from the rest of Mara's court and whispering threats in her ear until she breaks free, kicking him and sprinting down the bridge to catch up to Uldren just as Mara calls for Rune to stand forward and say which of her paintings or statues she believes is her best work. She has weighed up her options, as she has done several times since Kodali's death and after the repeated threats from his Paladin brothers, and the outcome is to do away with her hair again. She can't risk what she has worked to protect for so long, not when everything is just beginning to be right. So the purple curls fall to the bottom of the sink as she cuts at strange angles, and what is left is an entirely asymmetrical bob that she then drives upwards with insane amounts of hairspray.  
Uldren walks in and immediately declares that if he struck a match in the bathroom at that moment, the whole palace would go up in flames. Rune agrees, but doesn't stop spraying until she's entirely sure no one could grab her from behind again.  
Jolyon says something to Uldren about making sure Rune isn't going downhill again, like she did after they left the Distributary and she realised that she'd never see her parents again, but Uldren waves the concerns away despite the looming threat that he knows about, despite the fact that he is preparing Rune's escape almost every minute of the day.  
Miri wants to know why, and Rune speaks in riddles to her sister until they are both confused and Miri no longer cares, and the Scribe leaves the painting, pained Artist alone in the throne room.  
When Mara asks why, Rune shrugs, declaring she needed a change. But Mara's eyes see beyond the lie Rune tells, and while she doesn't say anything, she knows the real reason. 

The third time Rune cuts her hair, she isn't Rune anymore. Two years since her ship crashed in Europe, she has found a new name and carved out a new identity as a Guardian. She remembers nothing of leaving her parents behind in the Distributary, nothing of her time as the Royal Artist in Queen Mara's court, nothing of siblings and cousins and lovers she once had. The only things she has are her surname embroidered on her jacket, an engagement ring on a chain around her neck, and a note written on paper. So she makes new things. The warlock named Rose rises out of Rune Maleigh's ashes, walking alongside a titan named Chase Dupont, and when Cayde-6 mentions that her hair is getting quite long compared to its length on the day she arrived at the Tower, she takes a strand in her fingers and stares at it as though it is something alien.  
When she and Chase return to their shared apartment that night, Rose stares at herself in the tiny mirror in her even smaller bedroom, before walking to the kitchen to pick up the scissors.  
In the bathroom, she gently cuts her hair in the same one-sided manner as she's known it to be for her entire second life. Her Ghost, Hibiscus, floats behind her, occasionally piping up that she'd missed a spot, or there was a little bit to the left still too long, and only when the sink is full of dark purple curls does Rose decide she is finished.  
She stares at the mirror, and her reflection stares back, and Rose decides that one day she will find out about her past, no matter how many times she has to defy the Vanguard to do it.  
She won't give herself another choice.

**Author's Note:**

> Working on turning this into a full length fic! Stay tuned if you liked it <3


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